Blond Bear
by Joelle8
Summary: "I will be a bear and Mr. Puma," he offered quickly. "See? I am Mr. Puma. Roar!"   Amy squealed and clapped her hands together excitedly. "Okay. B-But he's Dr. Puma, not Mr. Puma. Silly Nik'lai!"


Blond Bear

"Irina? _Irina Spasky?_"

No. Nononononono_no_. That voice… Irina knew that voice. That voice could _not _be in St. Petersburg, not in Irina's home, not when she was with Nikolai.

Keeping a firm grip on her son's hand, she kept walking, pretending that she hadn't heard them. Or, even better, that she _wasn't_ Irina Spasky, and therefore assumed that they were yelling at someone else. But the Americans were persistent, and she could no longer ignore them when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Oh! Hope!" she exclaimed, feigning surprise at seeing the redhead's smiling face. "What an… unexpected surprise!"

"It's so good to see you, Irina!" Hope greeted kindly, hugging Irina. The Russian stiffened. The other woman let go and her eyes fell on Nikolai. "And who are you?" she asked him.

_What a smart boy, _Irina thought fondly as her son stayed silent. She answered for him. "He is the son of a friend of mine… she is on a trip, so I am watching over him for the time being. His name is Nikolai." The young boy nodded in confirmation.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Nikolai," Hope told the boy. "How old are you?"

"Eight," he replied. Now that the guise was set up already, he knew that no harm could come from saying his age. Irina's heart swelled with pride.

"You're older than my children, then. Amy's five, and Danny's two- speaking of which…" Hope turned around and called over to a man with salt-and-pepper hair, "_Arthur! _It's okay, you and the kids can come over!"

Hmm. So apparently Hope wasn't as automatically trusting as she seemed. _That's something to keep in mind, _Irina thought at Arthur approached, carrying a bundle in her arms and holding hands tightly with a tiny girl who was covering her face with her hair. It was actually rather adorable, unless you were Irina Spasky. Which Irina Spasky was.

"Hello, Irina," Arthur greeted her politely. She and him had never gotten along swimmingly. "You remember Amy, don't you? Amy, say hi Ms. Spasky," he told the young girl.

She shook her head rapidly, her hair moving out of the way to reveal wide, scared green eyes. Arthur squeezed her hand encouragingly. "It's okay Amy, Irina's not going to hurt you… right now," he added after a pause. The Lucian smirked; her son, old enough to understand, chuckled lightly. Perhaps encouraged by the sound of another child, Amy peered out from behind her curtain; she blinked at Irina for a few moments, then at Nikolai, and then at Irina again. Finally, she mumbled, "Hi, Ms. Spasky."

The girl's parents beamed; Arthur said, "There's my good girl," while Hope kissed her forehead proudly. Irina guessed, from their reactions, that Amy talking to anyone besides them was rare. The moment was interrupted by a wailing cry, and Hope immediately grabbed the bundle from Arthur.

"This is Danny, obviously," she told Irina with a sheepish grin as she rocked the baby back and forth. "Shh, it's okay, Danny, it's okay… Did you make a stinky?" She lifted him up to the right height and sniffed his diaper; instantly, her face screwed up in disgust. "That's a yes, then… Oh, if only there was a bathroom near here, you smell _disgusting_-" The American paused mid-sentence as an idea seemed to hit her. "Irina, would it be at all possible for us to go to your house for a little awhile? Just to change Danny's diaper, and maybe to rest our feet for a bit, we've been walking all day… Please? I hate to intrude, but I'm afraid that nothing good can come from leaving Dan's diaper like this."

Irina's Lucian side shouted, _No! Enemy branch! Bad! _Meanwhile, her maternal side advised, _Let her come, she just needs to change the poor child's diaper._

In the end, her nose made the decision.

"Alright. Come with me," she ordered, spinning around on her heel- Nikolai did the same, with perfect timing, he would be _such _a good agent one day- and walking towards her home without another word.

XxxxX

The Lucian let her guests into the apartment rather ungraciously, with a bark of, "The bathroom is on the left. I do not have any… _supplies_ for fixing the child's diaper, so I hope that you do."

"Don't worry, I came fully prepared," Hope beamed, patting her backpack with one hand.

"Thank you so much for letting us come over," Arthur told Irina once again as Hope headed towards the bathroom. Amy tugged on his hand and he bent down curiously; she whispered something in his ear, and when he rose again, he looked on the brink of laughter. "She says that she wants to play with Nikolai."

Irina's eyes- and her son's- widened in shock. "_What?_"

"She said that…" He paused to think of his daughter's exact words, his grin growing ever broader. "She needs someone to play _Brown Bear, Brown Bear _with, and she has to play with Nikolai because Hope and I don't do it right, Danny is too stinky and you frighten her."

Irina arched her eyebrows. She wasn't laughing. "I was under the impression that _Brown Bear, Brown Bear _is a children's _book_, not a children's _game_."

"Amy's very creative," the man said fondly, "it's her favorite book, so she made up a game to go with it. It doesn't have much to do with the book, admittedly, but it's still a fun game for her."

Irina was about to respond again, but Nikolai tugged on her hand, cutting her off. "Ma- Irina," he corrected himself, "I will play with girl."

"You are sure, Nikolai?"

"_Da. _I am sure."

"Alright," Irina nodded. When she turns to face Arthur again, the man is beaming. Stupid Americans and their constant smiles. "Nikolai and Amy can go to his room. They will play for only as long as you are here. Amy is not allowed to damage any of Nikolai's possessions."

"She wouldn't dream of it," Arthur assured her, "she's very well-behaved. Right, Amy?"

The little girl nodded from behind her curtain of hair again. Irina, still not entirely reassured because she knows full well that accidents happen, frowns, but concedes. "Then they may go now."

Nikolai let go of her hand and held it out to Amy instead. After an encouraging nudge from her father, Amy walked over and placed her tiny hand in the boy's only slightly larger one. After a smile at Irina, he led Amy away. Arthur stared after them, blinking with bewilderment.

"What do you find so surprising?" Irina snapped, her mood considerably more irritable now that Nikolai wasn't next to her.

"I think Amy has a crush on Nikolai," was Arthur's almost dazed reply. Irina's eyes widened again, appalled.

"That- that is _preposterous_! They have known each other for only minutes!"

"But Amy rarely talks to people, let alone holds their hands… It's rather a miracle, really. Liking Nikolai really seems like the only explanation."

Irina could not deny the man's logic. That didn't mean she liked it, though. "They are young," she bristled, "she will get over it. Soon."

Arthur let out a hearty laugh. "I know full well she will, Irina. It's not like they're going to get _married_- it's just a crush."

"It better be," Irina muttered stonily. Arthur laughed again; he abruptly stopped when he took note of the Lucian's glare.

That made her feel a bit better.

XxxxX

"What is this game that you vant to play?" Nikolai asked, his English heavily accented. Amy blinked at him shyly, so he repeated his question.

"Y-You sound f-f-funny," she stammered quietly in reply this time. She didn't look like she meant to insult him; rather, she looked curious, as if she had never heard anything like it, and it fascinated her.

"I am Russian. If you tried to speak Russian, you would sound funny, too," Nikolai pointed out. The little girl giggled, her cheeks red; she seemed more at ease now.

"Th-the game's c-called _Brown Bear, Brown Bear,_" she said, "'cause I r-really like that- that book and the game's about b-bears, even though it's not about a b-brown bear."

"What is it about then?"

"Th-there's a girl bear- that's me- and a b-boy bear, that's you. We're th-the Q-Queen and K-King of Bearland, and we have to save the- the other bears from Dr. P-Puma. H-he's the bad guy," she nodded seriously, and then frowned. "Wh-who're we gonna get to b-be Dr. Puma? There're o-only two of us! That means we- we can't play the game!"

To Nikolai's horror, the little girl's eyes started to fill with tears. Quickly, he grabbed a large stuffed lion from under his bed. "I will be a bear _and _Mr. Puma," he offered quickly. "See? I am Mr. Puma. Roar!" he exclaimed, deepening his Russian accent while making the toy jump at Amy, who squealed and clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Okay! B-but he's _Dr. _Puma, not _Mr. _Puma. Silly Nik'lai!"

The boy decided to ignore her mispronunciation of his name. "So what is my Bear name going to be?"

"Blond Bear," Amy answered immediately, "'cause you're blond. Even blonder than Dan-Danny! And Mommy says that m-_my_ hair's reddish-brown, which is like abraun- aubarn- _auburn_, dat's it! I 'membered!" She exclaimed excitedly, beaming with pride.

"Then you are Auburn Bear, _da_?"

"What does _da _mean?"

"Yes."

"_Da _means yes?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Then yes, I'm Au-Auburn Bear. And you're Blond Bear. B-But only we can call each other that, 'c-cause all the other Bears have to call us King and Queen."

"Okay. So what do we do as King and Queen of Bearland?"

"W-well, you have to c-carry me around on your b-back," Amy began, "'cause the Queen's th-the most important Bear, even more important th-than the King, s-so she needs to be c-carried around."

"Why is she more important than the King?"

Amy gave him a look like the answer was obvious. "'Cause she's a _girl_! Silly Nik'lai!"

Nikolai thought about arguing, but then realized that it wasn't worth it. So he got down on his knees and didn't have to say anything before Amy eagerly scurried on top and laughed, "Go, Blond Bear, go!"

XxxxX

"Go, Blond Bear, go!"

Hope literally stopped in her tracks as she walked into the living room. "Is that _Amy_?" she asked disbelievingly. "She sounds…"

"Like she's having fun? I know, I'm shocked too, dear," Arthur commented, pecking Hope on the cheek and then ruffling his son's wisps of hair. "All clean now, Danny-boy?"

"Yeah, he's all fresh now," Hope chuckled. "And I think he wants Daddy! Don't you, Danny? You want Daddy? Yes you do!" She cooed, tickling the tiny boy's tummy. He squealed in delight.

It took all of Irina's willpower not to barf.

The Russian cleared her throat; Hope and Arthur, the latter now holding a smiling Danny, turned towards her, unabashed. "I believe that because you are done here now, you should be on your way," she declared. "Nikolai and I have plans this afternoon." This was true- they were going to go to the St. Petersburg Children's Theatre later. Her son had a playgroup there; it was his favorite time of the week. Therefore she refused to let him miss it, _especially _for bothersome American relatives.

"Of course," Hope nodded immediately. "You have your plans, and we have ours. We'll just go get Amy, and we'll be on our way."

Irina nodded her consent, beckoned to them to follow her, and then led them to Nikolai's room. She knocked on it three times, opened it-

_Why is there a _child _on my son's back?_

"Nikolai!" she exclaimed. The boy looked up abruptly; Amy slid off his back when she saw her parents, who were smiling amusedly, and Nikolai stood up.

"Hello, Ma- Irina," he told her as he walked to her side.

"Nikolai, what were you and Amy doing?" she demanded immediately.

"Playing _Brown Bear, Brown Bear,_" he replied immediately, the hint of a smiling gracing his features. "Amy was the Queen Bear, and therefore too important to walk on her own."

Now holding hands with her mother, Amy giggled.

Irina didn't know what to say. Her instinct was to scold her son and tell him that behavior was unacceptable; yet it wasn't, and she knew that. So instead, she nodded and forced out, "Alright then. I hope you two had… fun."

"We did!" Amy piped up. All eyes turned to her; immediately, she turned beet red and hide her face behind her hair.

"Daddy and I are glad you did, sweetheart," Hope told her. "How about you thank Nikolai for having fun with you?"

"Thank you, Nik'lai," she told the boy, rushing forward to hug his leg. "You're very blond. And your back's comfy."

"Thank you, Amy," Nikolai blinked in surprised. "You are very… what was the word? Ah, yes: auburn. You are very auburn."

Amy blushed, and Hope pulled her away, smiling like this was the cutest thing she had ever seen. Irina didn't agree, but she said nothing.

"Well, we'd better be going," Arthur stated, smiling sheepishly at the Russians. "Thank you so much for your hospitality, Irina; I hope we'll see you again soon."

Irina merely nodded. "Have a good trip."

There was _yet another _round of good-byes, during which Amy burst into tears ("I don't _wanna _leave Nik'lai, he's my _friend_!"), but finally, the Cahill family left. Irina turned to her son.

"Are you alright, Nikolai?" She asked concernedly. There was no real reason to ask, she knew, but Nikolai seemed to understand.

"_Da, _Mama, I am fine." The boy smiled. "That was an… _interesting_ game. I am afraid that I will not be able to look at that book again without thinking of little girls on my back."

Irina laughed. "Come, my son, let's go to the Theatre."

And so they set off, chatting rapidly in Russian, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all.

XxxxX

_**Wow. I haven't written one of these in awhile. You know, an actual full-out dialogue. I feel like I failed… Then again, I'm biased towards my poetry-infused vignettes, so I'll let you do the deciding.**_

_**This pairing was created by my good friend **__**, and therefore this story is dedicated to her. Hope it wasn't too awful, Strawberry!**_

_**If you're wondering why Amy doesn't remember Nikolai later, it's because she's five years old when this happens. It takes her awhile to remember things that happened when she was **_**seven**_**, so I'm guessing that her memory of her younger years isn't exactly the sharpest.**_

_**I'm not sure about my portrayals of any of these characters… I feel like they're pretty OOC. Then again, they're in very different circumstances than we've seen them in before, so maybe that gives me a bit of lenience. :P**_

_**Thank you so much for reading; I feel like the innocence of this one balances my last crack!ship pretty well.**_

_**-Joelle8**_


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